As she races the clock to prove her fitness for round one, Collingwood captain Brianna Davey believes the Magpies can quickly return to AFLW premiership contention.
The Magpies, under new coach Sam Wright, kick off their campaign in Friday's season opener against Sydney at North Sydney Oval.
Davey, who had an off-season ankle reconstruction, couldn't confirm her availability for the game, but was adamant she wasn't far away regardless.
"I'm getting there," Davey told AAP.
"A bit of an up-and-down pre-season for me with the ankle, but should hopefully be right to go for round one, if not round two.
"Like any athlete who's been through long-term injuries, it definitely can be frustrating.
"But I've got an awesome team at Collingwood in terms of my teammates, then our medical, right through to our high-performance, so I feel like I'm in good hands.
"It's just a matter of hopefully getting a bit of luck."
Davey is one of the competition's best midfielders, despite two ACL tears in her career, but could spend more time in attack as she builds form and fitness.
"It just depends who we're playing, what we need," she said.
"But I definitely see myself running through the midfield still, and I think that'll be the plan."
Collingwood and Davey are trying to rebound from an 11th-placed finish last season.
"Obviously last season we didn't live up to where we thought we should be as a group, and we missed out on finals," Davey said.
"So that was pretty disappointing, and not lost on the group that we probably should have done better."
Former North Melbourne defender Wright subsequently replaced Steve Symonds ahead of this season.
"He's been awesome. Not only is he great at building relationships, but his football brain is unreal," Davey said.
"We've had him bring in a new system to us that I think will really suit our strengths as a playing group."
Davey insisted the Magpies would take a "week-by-week" approach to hopefully qualify for finals.
"But we're definitely keen to take it all away," she added.
"And I have no reason to believe we can't."
Hunger is high at Collingwood, who have never won the AFLW premiership.
"It's definitely something we talk about. It's not something we shy away from," Davey said.
"Our group has had some success in terms of playing finals footy, but never quite got to the end stage.
"As a group, that's something we're all hungry for, including myself - especially the older you get, the more real it becomes as well."
